Analyst Expects GTA V to Pull in $1 Billion in First Month

[Shawn Zipay]

We all know that Grand Theft Auto V is going to sell quite a bit, but did you figure on it selling upwards of $1 billion in its first month? If you answered yes, then you're probably RW Baird analyst, Colin Sebastian, who expects the game to pull in $1 billion in retail sales just in the first month.

"To-date, Take Two has shipped roughly 25 million units worldwide of GTA IV, and our checks suggest an uptick in catalog sales in the weeks ahead of tonight's GTA V launch. Given the significantly higher installed base of relevant console platforms at launch, greater sales concentration among the top video game franchises, and unprecedented pentup demand, we expect GTA V to outpace GTA IV sales, and generate roughly $1 billion in retail sales during the first month," he said.

He goes on to suggest that there will be sales upwards of 12 million units for the September quarter and hitting 20 million by March. He even thinks that the sales of GTA V could be a means of gauging how other AAA titles will sell later this year, like Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4.

(via GI.biz)

[K-16]

That man will go on to become a member of the Board of Directors for Square-Enix. I hope Michael Pachter comes up with a more realistic prediction, assuming somebody actually asks him as a financial analyst, rather than spewing another obvious question journalists/gamers can answer themselves, and wasting his time on another dumb question.